'We've had a really good peach season'

By SCOTT POWELL Ledger Staff Writer spowell@gaffneyledger.com A tractor filled with baskets of peaches made its way Friday morning deep into the peach orchards surrounding the Sunny Slope Farms property off Interstate 85. Rows of trees filled with ripe peaches are being picked this summer by a peach picking crew in the Sunny Slope Farm orchards in Cherokee County. Justin Ness is working with four crew members to pick peaches on the rich farmland where his grandfather, Louis Caggiano, and other Caggiano family members once oversaw one of the state's largest peach-growing operations. The family stopped actively working the peach orchards in the 1990s. Ness resumed picking peaches on 100 acres of orchards at Sunny Slope Farms in 2007. He has gradually built a thriving business selling peaches wholesale to local produce markets such as Lemmons and Allison's Produce. "I want to keep growing peaches as long as possible," Ness said. "I want to plant some new peach tree varieties next year." Peach growers begin harvesting their crop in late May to early June. Some varieties of peaches are picked in September. There is no shortage of demand for fresh peaches in Cherokee County. "We've had a really good peach season," Ness said. "We are selling out of almost all the peaches we have picked so far." Local residents and out-of-state travelers regularly make stops off I-85 to pick up fresh peaches, a tasty summertime treat used in making cobblers, homemade ice cream and pies. Sunny Slope Farms and Jolley Farms are among the few fruit growers who are still working peach acreage in Cherokee County. Cooley Farms in Chesnee is waiting for its young peach trees in Cherokee County to mature and start producing fruit. South Carolina peach farmers harvest 200 million pounds of peaches in an average year for a crop valued at $35 million statewide, according to statistics compiled by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. In the past few years, the state's peach crop value has declined to $20 million because of droughts and other adverse weather conditions. Over the past two decades, the local peach market has changed from large commercial packing house operations to selling fresh peaches at roadside stands, said Clemson Extension Agent David Parker. "There are still a couple of people growing peaches in Cherokee County," Parker said. "They are just working 100 to 250 acres of peaches instead of several thousand acres."